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Respected sportsman Breer dies

Accident kills Utah expert on angling the Green River

Dennis “Denny” Breer, the much-respected owner of Trout Creek Flies in Dutch John, Utah, was killed Thursday in a construction accident at his home.

According to a note on his shop Web site (http://www.fishgreenriver.com), Breer, a longtime pigeon racer and breeder, was attempting to move a large coop in his backyard when it fell off a jack and pinned him underneath.

Breer was well-known for his angling knowledge and his never-ceasing, passionate defense of the Green River below Flaming Gorge Dam. He unwaveringly dealt with such challenges as increased recreational use of the river, wildfires that raced through the area in July 2002 and closed down the river for nine days, and a series of wildly fluctuating “experimental flow regimes” through Flaming Gorge Dam by the Bureau of Reclamation that played havoc with anglers and trout.

Through it all, he somehow managed to maintain his composure, although that’s not what certain government officials might have offered after Breer had his say.

“I’m not afraid to say what’s on my mind,” he told The Daily Sentinel more than a decade ago. “Somebody has to speak for the river.”

Breer was a frequent attendee of management meetings dealing with the Green River and was quick to tell people the river had not changed in spite of the fires and up-and-down flows.

“The Green River is mighty resilient,” he said a few years ago. “And it’s fishing as good as it ever was.”

In an interview with Brett Prettyman of the Salt Lake City Tribune, Breer said the Green River and similar Western rivers “are a precious commodity.”

“A lot of people take rivers for granted and we just can’t do that anymore,” Breer said.